Sustainable Agriculture  

Posted by Wyatt



While I was eating a homemade hamburger I saw the stock market report on the TV. I looked down at my hamburger and I thought how much of this uses oil to be produced. I have broken it down for you to see.  
First off we have the bread, some farmer around the world would have to plant the cereal,  This would be put in using a diesel run tractor. First the farmer would have to plow the fields, harrow the fields , finally we can plant the seeds using the drill. After that we have to worry about applying chemicals like pesticides which are composed of petroleum based products. And chemical fertilizers derived from natural gas. Once the cereal is ready it needs to be harvested. Then it is shipped off using big trucks using even more diesel. It then is processed in a large automated building that is powered by oil and natural gas. 
Then we have the beef that requires even more energy.  Cattle are feed on grain, requiring vehicles to feed them and move them. 
Lastly we have salad that was either shipped in, flown in or grown in green houses.

All in all you can easily see the farmers and the worlds food supply is dependent on fossil fuels. It is important to realize that we cannot continue to depend on fossil fuels because of the increase in price and the decrease in availability.  Until the farmer can control the price of oil or the price of product he sells it will be hard for him make a decent profit. 






  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 and is filed under , . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .

3 comments

Anonymous  

Wyatt your blog is amazing. It is giving me a whole new perspective on each of you informative topics. When you are a city girl like me it is nice to see the different side of these matters. Thank you!

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Anonymous  

Thanks for the inciteful information. Many of us do not understand the costs that are incurred to produce and transport goods when we purchace these goods and the price has gone up. We may assume that it is the retailer and not due to the cost of oil. Thanks again for the enlightenment. :)